Monthly Archives: August 2013

This last week my Motorino Xpn e-bike passed the 6000 km mark. That’s roughly 100 commutes that I’ve made to and from the office. If you consider a (very) rough estimate of $10 a day for the gas I would use driving the family minivan on the same commute, I have saved approximately $1000. Not bad!

I’ve been riding this electric scooter for just under two seasons for my daily commute as often as the weather would allow. It’s my second e-bike, and it’s been treating me well. I know that I’m due for a new set of batteries with this many kilometres on it, but it’s still charging in about 8 hours, most times, so I’ll try to keep going until I don’t make it on a one-way trip before losing its charge. Buying a new set of batteries (I have eight 12 volt cells arranged to give 48v) will take a chunk out of the $1000 savings in gas, but it’s not all about saving money. It’s been a great way to keep us a one vehicle family, which is good for the environment, and good for the pocket book in more ways than just saving at the gas pumps.

2014-06-09 Update – I ended up selling my e-bike last weekend. It was sad to see it go, but I’m not able to use it as much as I could in past years due to new commuting arrangements. I’m hoping it will get more use with it’s new owner.

In our area, a recent McDonald’s happy meal toy series has been the minions from the recent Descpicable Me 2 movie. Chances are, there are plenty of people out there that collected a few of these toys. If you’re like our family, these toys always end up in the garage sale “free basket” after be dug out from the bottom of the toy box years later.

What if, instead of leaving these things lying around houses all over the province, we could bring them all back together in one place? What would they all do when they’re together again? I’m not exactly sure, but I’d like to help these little guys out, but I need your help.

Here’s what we need to do. If you know me, bring your minions to me the next time you see me. If you know someone who knows me, drop the minions off at their place (and have a nice visit or chat while you’re there) and they can bring them to me the next time they see me. Once we get as many of these little guys together as we can, I’ll figure out something for them to do. It might be as simple as a cubicle display at work. It might be something more elaborate, or more sinister. I haven’t got any ideas yet, but I think it’s going to be wonderful. If you think of something, let me know.